


If You Think That This Is Just A Game I'm Playing... Don't Feel That Way

by smallsmilliman97



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Bromances galore, F/M, Fluff and Angst, Slow Build, Slow Burn, tatbilb au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-08-31
Updated: 2018-09-03
Packaged: 2019-07-05 04:05:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,159
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15855864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/smallsmilliman97/pseuds/smallsmilliman97
Summary: Leo gave Calypso a look that said ‘this girl is insane,’ making Calypso fight desperately against the smile forming on her lips.The Caleo TATBILB AU that's been bouncing around in my brain for the past week or so.





	1. Is Your Heart Filled With Pain

**Author's Note:**

> The story title comes from the song Don't. Chapter title comes from Are You Lonesome Tonight? Both are by Elvis Presley.

Calypso lay on her stomach in the living room with her sisters and Percy, all eyes glued to the tv, watching The Big Sick. She glanced over at Percy, his arm slung around Annabeth’s shoulders, her head on his shoulder, and Calypso felt a sudden pang in her chest. She quickly whipped her head back toward the movie, the feeling disappearing much quicker than normal, as she began to chuckle as the lead made a bad joke. Piper pushed the back of her head for finding the joke funny.

“You really shouldn’t laugh, it was a terrible joke.” Piper quipped earring a glare from Calypso.

“I could care less, I love it.” Calypso looked her sister dead in the eye and the two began a silent staring staring contest before quickly delving into a fit of giggles.

“Shhhh!” Annabeth hushed them, not tearing her eyes from the screen, she hadn’t seen this movie before. Percy, however, had, and he gave the middle Chase sibling a wide grin, making her heart skip a beat, before she quickly returned her gaze to the movie in front of them. Willing her heart to return to it’s normal pace.

After about an hour the movie came to it’s happy conclusion and Annabeth quickly stood up, stretching her arms over her head.

“Welp, come on guys, we best start on dinner before Dad decides to.” This comment made Calypso groan. Their father, Dr. Fredrick Chase, was so sweet and tried desperately to make up for the fact that their mother died nine years ago, and he did a pretty good job, but he was a terrible cook. A trait both Annabeth AND Piper seemed to have inherited (even though Piper was adopted). So when ever Annabeth talked about making dinner, she really meant Calypso, while the other two sat around and watched.

“That’s sounds like a good idea,” Percy stood up to stand next to his girlfriend, “C’mon guys, get up, let’s get a move on!” Calypso rolled her eyes, Percy was an even worse cook than her sisters, but she pulled herself up anyway and lead the way to the kitchen.

“I refuse to do anything that takes a lot of work!” Calypso turned to look at her sisters and Percy, “So Piper, go get the macaroni noodles from the food storage, and Annabeth? If you’d be so kind as to go get some chili from the pantry it’d be greatly appreciated.” Calypso smiled sweetly at her older sister who pretended to look angry at the prospect of having to fetch something for her little sister, but a beat later her face broke out in a grin and she dutifully turned and headed toward the pantry.

“What about me! Aren’t you going to put me to work?” Calypso turned her head so she was looking at Percy.

“You can go back and sit on the couch, we all know you burn water, and you can’t be trusted with sharp objects.” Percy gave Calypso a puppy dog look before she shook her head. “Nope. Nothing you can do will let you stay here and help!” Percy sighed, defeated, before turning around and sulking back out to the couch. With that Calypso inhaled deeply, thankful to be rid of the distraction, before turning around and grabbing a pot to fill with water.

 

A short while later the four sat around the table with Dr. Chase, eating the delicious ChiliMac that Calypso had prepared, along with a salad, to the moaning of Piper.

“So, Annabeth, are you ready to head to Athens in a few days?” The oldest Chase girl smiled, and finished chewing the bite she had taken before responding.

“So excited! I’m so glad I decided to go there instead of stay here.”

The comment made Percy look at his girlfriend so sadly all Calypso wanted to do was wipe that frown off his face. And when Annabeth turned to look at her boyfriend, her face fell slightly, making Calypso slightly angry with her sister.

“Let’s not talk about school,” Calypso rushed the words out after a brief pause, “Daddy, Jason and I were thinking about going to a movie tonight at eight, is that okay?” That wasn’t true, Jason was just the first person she thought of, and going to the movies was kind of the duo’s thing. 

“I thought there weren’t any new movies you two wanted to see, sweetheart?”

“Yeah, well, we decided we didn’t want to wait to see Crazy Rich Asians,” Calypso prayed they wouldn’t turn it into a joke about it being a date, she was really sick of those jokes.

“So, you guys are finally going out on a date?” Percy wiggled his eyebrows after a few moments, making Calypso cross her arms on the table and sink into them, she hated them all, every single one of them.

“Oh, don’t tease her,” Annabeth spoke, “We all know both of them are to embarrassed to admit it’s a date.” Annabeth gave her sister a big grin, who had looked up hopefully, only to sink back into her arms.

“You all are impossible!” Calypso mumbled before quickly standing up and snatching her plate, “So, can I go, Daddy?” Dr. Chase nodded his head.

“Of course! But make sure Jason knows if he tries any funny business with my little girl he will be banned from this house.”

“DAD!” Calypso whined before quickly scurrying into the kitchen. Once she was out of eye sight she pulled out her phone and frantically sent her best friend a text telling him they needed to go see Crazy Rich Asians, right now. She then began to scrape her leftovers into the trash before washing the plate in the sink. Percy walked in as she was staring out the window absently.

“You do know you have a dishwasher for a reason, right?” Percy gave her a side smile as he stood next to her and emptied his glass. Calypso shook her head and looked over at her friend.

“Yeah, I do, but you know how much I love the mindless work!” Calypso bumped his hip, making him chuckle slightly. That’s when she felt the vibration of Jason’s response.

I’ll be there in ten.

Calypso smiled, what did she do to deserve a friend like Jason, not even a question about why.

“That your boyfriend?” Calypso rolled her eyes, she was so tired of them teasing her about Jason.

“No! Jason is not be my boyfriend! Nor has he ever been or ever will be.”

“So… He’s not a boy who is a friend?” Calypso squinted at Percy, annoyed. How dare he.

“Well, obviously!” Percy let out a full belly laugh and Calypso felt a pull on her heart. 

‘Stop it!’ She chastised herself, ‘that is not fair to Annabeth!’

“Well,” she spoke after a few beats of silence, “I should probably go get ready, even if it’s not a date, I’m sure he doesn’t want to be seen out with me looking like this…” She gestured to her old paint stained sweats and blue tee, which was two or three sizes to big with massive holes and some splotches of milk from the macaroni.

“I don’t know why he’d have a problem, you look great,” Percy spoke, looking down at the plate he was putting in the dishwasher. Calypso stared at him blankly as she felt her heart pound so slowly she was sure it had stopped. A moment later she was taken out of her trance by Percy whistling as he waved a hand in front of her face.

“Sorry, I spaced out there for a second,” she spoke quietly, before glancing up at the oven time, “SHIT! Jason’s going to be here in two minutes!” She turned and rushed up the stairs before Percy even had a chance to react. 

Calypso, however, was the master of quick changes and when Jason rolled up two minutes later and honked the horn, she was already dressed in a cute blue knee length, loose fitting dress.

“Bye, Daddy, Pipes, Annie and Percy!” She screeched as she walked out the doors and into Jason’s car.

“So… You promised me an explanation…” Calypso cringed, really not wanting to explain to him what had happened, “Why the sudden urge to watch Crazy Rich Asians? I know we said we wanted to see it, but it wasn’t like BlakkKlansman,” She let out an uncomfortable laugh.

“Well… Honestly? It was the first movie I thought of. I was trying to change the subject and stop thinking about Percy, and, well… You were the first person that came to mind.” Jason put a hand over his heart.

“While I’m touched you thought of me, you do remember I have a horrible crippling crush on your sister, right?” Calypso whipped her head around to give him her best stink eye.

“What is with all of the best guys’s in my life having a thing for a different Chase girl? Like, how is that fair?” Jason shrugged.

“I mean, if it helps, you’re definitely my number two choice,” he tilted his head over to his friend and gazed up at her through his eye lashes before batting them like crazy, making Calypso chuckle and shove him back to an upright position.

“Pay attention to the road, dumbass!” She spoke. After a few moments of comfortable silence between the two, Jason looked over at her and sincerely asked.

“That’s okay, though, right?” She gave him a quizzical look. “That you’re my number two choice romantically?” She smiled tightly.

“Yeah,” Jason breathed a sigh of relief, “It would be nice, though.” He looked over at Calypso quizzically, “To be someone’s first choice.” This time it was Jason’s turn to give a tight smile.

“You will, you have to.”

“And why’s that?”

“Because you’re the best person I know, if someone can’t put you first, romance is dead.” Calypso giggled.

“But you and Percy can’t seem to put me first.” Jason looked at the girl sadly.

“Well… I mean, your sisters got there first and they just wouldn’t leave,” Jason put his hand over his heart to emphasize the point as he pulled into a parking spot. Calypso’s mouth twitched upward slightly and she slowly placed her hand over his.

“And I’m glad they did.” They sat like that for a moment, staring at each other with dopey grins on their faces before the rain drops softly hitting the windshield brought them back to reality.

“We should get inside before it really starts going,” Jason reached in the backseat and handed Calypso his letterman jacket. She gave him an evil smirk. “What?”

“I may not be your first choice romantically, but do you ever let Piper wear this?” Calypso burst, her face resting in a smile. Jason rolled his eyes in response.

“You’re an idiot.” 

Calypso gave a shrug in response. “And if you ever let her wear it, I will slit your throat,” she spoke softly, making Jason’s eyes pop.

“You can be very cruel, you know that, right?” Jason gave Calypso a knowing look, which she returned with a funny face.

“We aren’t leaving until you agree.”

The two sat there, staring at each other as the rain began to come down heavier and heavier. After a minute of waiting Calypso relented, throwing her hands up in the air and mumbling a few choice words about her friend.

Jason cheered for his victory before opening the door and starting a ten second countdown for the sprint. When he reached one the two raced out of the car, and sprinted for the theater entrance. Once inside Calypso wrapped the jacket around herself tighter, cursing herself for wearing a short dress without tights.

They quickly bought their tickets and stood patiently in line waiting for popcorn, which is when Calypso saw her.

Thalia Grace, Jason’s older sister, Annabeth’s best friend and Percy’s favorite cousin, walking hand in hand with Leo Valdez, her on-again/off-again boyfriend of several years. Calypso tried her best to shield herself from the pair’s gaze but it was no use, the older girl seemed to have a sixth sense when it came to her little brother’s best friend.

“Calypso! Jason!” She waved and began walking over to the pair. Calypso turned away, steeling for the onslaught of back handed compliments she knew was coming. What had she done to make the girl hate her?

“What’s up! What are you guys here to see?” Thalia asked when she and Leo reached Jason and Calypso.

“Crazy Rich Asians,” Jason said proudly, making Thalia snicker.

“She’s got you so tightly wrapped around her finger she can get you to go see anything, can’t she?” Calypso looked at the girl sheepishly. She didn’t understand what she had done to make Thalia hate her. In Thalia’s eyes, she was always going to be the weakest Chase girl. The one who wore a dress to hang out with a friend, the one who spent her Saturday nights at home, baking brownies as she watched a new Rom-Com to make up for her lack of a love life.

“No, I actually suggested it,” Calypso looked up at her best friend, gratitude written all over her face. She squeezed his arm in appreciation.

“Really, Jase? A Rom-Com? Don’t tell the Step-Monster or she’ll have a field day!” Jason looked his sister dead in the eye.

“Okay,” Jason shrugged, “I don’t really care, but we both wanted to see it, so I thought, what the hell. We need something fun to watch, BlakkKlansman was good, a little fun even, but we wanted something a little less heavy.” Thalia looked at her brother skeptically.

“Well, I’m jealous,” Leo spoke up for the first time since the pairs had joined up, “They’re showing Lady Bird, again,” he sounded so defeated at that, “and of course Thalia refused to see anything else when ‘Such an empowering female driven movie was playing!’” Leo let go of Thalia’s hand to use air quotes.

Calypso quickly coughed to mask the giggle that escaped her lips. Leo clearly was sick of those movies, and Calypso understood, sometimes you just wanted to sit back and enjoy a senseless movie, it was such a great way to escape this reality that seemed to be sucking so freaking bad.

“Hey! It’s an amazing movie and you know you love it!” Leo gave Calypso a look that said ‘this girl is insane,’ making Calypso fight desperately against the smile forming on her lips, before turning to his girlfriend and nodding enthusiastically. 

“Of course I do! It’s amazing,” Leo rolled his eyes at toward Calypso once more, making her press her hand to her mouth to bite back the laugh, “It was nice seeing the two of you, we’ll see you later.” Calypso nodded and waved slightly with her left hand, the right still pressed tightly to her mouth, once the pair was out of sight, Calypso and Jason looked at each other and burst into a fit of laughter.

“Poor Leo!” The finally chorused in perfect unison.

“Oh, he hates it so much when my sister drags him to the movies.” Jason chuckled as their laughter died down.

“But Leo loves movies…” Calypso spoke, a hint of sadness in her voice, she remembers how he used to get so excited when a new action movie would come out that his parents didn’t want him going to and he and Calypso would come up with new schemes to sneak out and go see them.

“Yeah, well, when the only one’s your girlfriend wants to take you to are depressing Indies, you start to dread your dates to the movies.” Jason replied before turning to the man and asking for a large popcorn, extra butter and root beer. Calypso looked sadly at her friend.

“You shouldn’t be dreading dates. Why doesn’t Leo say something? Maybe they could spice it up by going to an action movie?” Jason shook his head.

“Last time he suggested that Thalia broke up with him for an entire month. It was kind of ridiculous.” Calypso rolled her eyes. It wasn’t kind of ridiculous, it was very ridiculous, but what did she expect from Thalia, the high and mighty punk rock feminist queen?

“Well, it’s a good thing we’re not like that.” Jason smiled at his friend.

“Yeah, we should invite him to go see The Predator with us in a couple of weeks.” Calypso pretended to ponder this.

“Yeah, he deserves it after having to deal with your sister for so long.”

“Hey! She may be a bit of a bitch sometimes, but she’s still my sister!” Calypso gave him an ‘are you an idiot’ stare as they scooted down the aisle to find their seats.

“Yeah, maybe to you! To me she’s a bitch all the time.”

“That’s not true! What about the time she threw you a surprise party because Annabeth was out of town visiting your cousin?” Jason countered.

“When we were in fourth grade?” Calypso gave her friend a questioning look who sighed and raised his hands in resignation.

“You aren’t wrong, she really hasn’t been that nice to us since we were kids,” Calypso gave Jason a satisfied smirk as the theater went dark and the previews began.


	2. When I First Saw You, With Your Smile So Tender

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Letters make their first appearance.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter title comes from It's Now or Never by Elvis Presley.

When Jason dropped Calypso off a few hours later, the living room light was still on, making the girl slightly nervous. She hesitantly opened the door to the sounds of the Futurama theme, and when she turned was faced, to her surprise, with a lone Annabeth. Calypso stared for a moment curiously, Annabeth never watched Futurama without Percy.

“Annie?” Calypso questioned softly after a moment. Annabeth looked up at her younger sister, tear stains evident on her cheeks. Calypso rushed over and sank onto the couch next to her sister. “What’s wrong, Annie?” Annabeth leaned her head on Calypso’s shoulder and choked out a response.

“I-I broke up with Percy.”

“WHAT!” Calypso shoved her sister up to stare into the familiar grey eyes, clouded with emotions, “But you love Percy! And you were acting totally normal with him today!” 

Annabeth responded by burying her head back into her sister’s shoulder while Calypso stroked her hair gently. The two stayed that way until Annabeth decided she was ready to talk to Calypso. Finally she lifted her head but was unable to look her sister directly in the eyes.

“Mommy always told me never to go to college with a boyfriend,” and with that sentence, Calypso knew Annabeth was was more upset than she had ever been, she never called their mother ‘Mommy’ sometimes she would refer to her as ‘Mom’ but mostly it was ‘Mother’. ‘Mother loved to do this.’ ‘Mother always said to do this.’ The only other time Calypso had ever heard her sister call their mom ‘Mommy’ was at their mom’s funeral.

“Annie… If Mommy had met Percy she would have understood,” Calypso tried to offer, knowing what her sister would say. Annabeth laughed bitterly at that.

“No, she wouldn’t have. I think that’s what makes it worse… Daddy loves him, but Mommy… Mommy would have hated him so much, it was the only thing that made me go through with it.” Calypso looked down, tears of frustration forming in her eyes.

“But that shouldn’t matter,” Calypso spoke through the silent tears streaming down her face.   
“Also,” Calypso scrunched up her nose as she wiped the tears from her eyes, “Why was Mommy telling you things like that? You were eight!” Annabeth let out a low chuckle before looking up at her sister and shrugging.

“You know… I have no idea…” the two sisters began giggling, both of them excepting this change of mood with open arms. When they finally got their giggles under control they looked at each other smiling, before the episode Annabeth had started came to a close and the new one began. 

They stayed in the living room, Annabeth’s head on Calypso’s shoulder, for several more episodes, the only sounds made were that of of laughter. When Annabeth’s eyelids started to droop Calypso jostled her awake while she shut off the television.

“C’mon, Annie, it’s time we get to bed.” Annabeth looked up at her sister, standing in front of her before falling back across the couch and began softly snoring. Calypso rolled her eyes and slowly began walking up the creaky stairs. 

Once she was safely in her room with the door closed, Calypso rushed to her closet and gently pulled the Elvis lunch tin from the shelf, a gift from her mother for her fifth birthday. She slowly made her way to desk, holding the tin gingerly, once she had sat down, she took a deep breath and clicked it open.

She sat there for a moment, staring at the five addressed love letters, one for every boy she’d ever loved. She slowly pulled them out, one by one, letting the memories of each boy wash over her.

Odysseus she had met at summer camp in fifth grade, he had been so sweet to her, she couldn’t help it, she was ten, she had fallen before she realized what was happening. He had just been so kind, saving that boy from drowning. Beyond that, she didn’t much remember the boy, they’d been so young. It probably hadn’t been real love, but at the time it had so once she had returned home, she wrote her first ever love letter.

Luke Castellan had happened in seventh grade. He was Annabeth’s first boyfriend, which constantly made Calypso question her taste in men. She remembered meeting him for the first time when they had come to the house to do homework. He had been so tall and sweet, she knew it would never happen, but she liked to dream. When his family had moved one town over, Luke and Annabeth came to the mutual understanding that it wouldn’t work out, but they should definitely stay friends. It wasn’t until a week after he left she wrote the letter to purge her of the feelings she felt she had betrayed her sister with.

Leo Valdez (yes, the one from the theater) was the end of seventh grade and most of eighth. There had been a bit of overlap with Luke. By that time he, Calypso, Jason and Piper had been inseparable since the three older kids had been in kindergarten. Calypso can’t tell you what started the crush, Jason thought it was when Leo kissed her when she told him about it last year, but it had started before then. She couldn’t pinpoint it exactly, she thinks it must have been the little things, like how he always brought her an extra cookie, because she loved his grandma’s baking, or that he was always scheming with her about sneaking out and going to the movies. She had been so excited when he kissed her, she was so sure he would ask her on a date, but nothing happened. Then, halfway through eighth grade, he started dating Thalia. Calypso held out hope for a several months after that, but when it became abundantly clear Leo would never dump his older, cooler, sexier girlfriend for her, the crush came to it’s crushing conclusion.

Nico di Angelo had happened sophomore year, while he was a freshman. They had met at Homecoming. Both had been forced there by someone they loved, Nico by his older sister, Bianca, Calypso by Jason. They had spent the night bonding over their mutual love of Elvis, and hatred of most school events, they even actually danced. Calypso still looks back on it as the most fun she’s had thus far in high school. They remained friendly but it became very clear after a few days he was never going to ask her out.

Percy happened the summer before high school. Before he started dating Annabeth during their sophomore year. He’d always been a friend, but that was just because he was Thalia and Jason’s cousin. But when eighth grade came to an end, his mom married Mr. Blofis, the Chase’s next door neighbor and Dr. Chase’s best friend. Suddenly, Percy was over all the time, and he was so nice to Calypso, which was her ultimate weakness. If a boy was kind to her, she was bound to fall. It became fairly obvious, fairly quickly, that he only had eyes for the oldest Chase girl. Calypso always told herself she was over him, but deep down, she knew that she hadn’t. Which is why she kept this letter out. 

Reverantly, she pulled out a blank piece of paper and began to write.

P.S. I need this crush to end…

…What else is there for me to do but cry?

She finished writing at two in the morning, she let out a yawn and promptly sank onto her bed, falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The last line in her p.s. to Percy comes from (Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame by (you probably guessed it) Elvis Presley. I'll just tell everyone now, that all the chapter titles and such come from Elvis. I felt like Calypso would be a fan of older music, and I wanted that to be her biggest connection to her mother, their mutual love for an older musician. Since Elvis is the oldest musician I'm familiar with, I went with him. I also felt like he has a lot of songs that hopeless romantics, like myself and Calypso, would find so sweet and pure.

**Author's Note:**

> Lara Jean Covey- Calypso  
> Peter Kavinsky- Leo Valdez  
> Margot Covey- Annabeth Chase  
> Kitty Covey- Piper McLean  
> Josh Sanderson- Percy Jackson  
> Lucas Krampf- Nico DiAngelo  
> Gen- Thalia Grace  
> Chris- Jason Grace  
> Dr. Covey- Fredrick Chase  
> John Ambrose McClaren- Luke Castellan  
> Kenny- Odysseus


End file.
